At annual South Pacific Forums since the mid-1990s, Pacific Island governments have committed themselves to more effective economic and political governance. Governments in the region are developing an increasingly specific shared 'agenda' for policy development and change in areas including economic reform, public accountability and trade and investment policy. The media has a key role to play in informing the community of these wide-ranging reforms. The Pacific Media Initiative (PMI) provides customised media training for media practitioners to strengthen their ability to articulate and debate key public policy issues in an accurate and balanced manner. It also encourages the involvement of government officers and NGOs in these training programs. Accompanying the reform agenda in the Pacific has been a...

PORT VILA, Vanuatu (September 6, 2000 – Radio Australia)---The Vanuatu Government's senior coalition partner has refused to accept an offer from the opposition to join forces and form a new government.

In a leaked letter to the local press, the leader of the opposition, Vanuaku Pati, asked Serge Vohor from the United Moderates to cross the floor and form a government with the opposition.

The letter warns that a failure to unite the two main parties will have an adverse affect on the country's stability and the upcoming election in 2002.

But Mr. Vohor rejected the offer, saying the stability of the current government is a priority.

RABAUL, Papua New Guinea (September 6, 2000 – Radio Australia)---Negotiations on Bougainville's political future will continue today in the northern Papua New Guinea town of Rabaul.

Radio Australia correspondent Richard Dinnen reports that there is some hope an agreement can be reached on autonomy for Bougainville before the end of the week.

"Today is the third day of this critical round of negotiations between the Bougainville leaders and the Papua New Guinea government.

"The Bougainville leadership arrived on Monday full of frustration and anger at the government's slow progress. Some have been talking of a potential breakdown in negotiations. But the mood has improved.

"Bougainville Affairs Minister Sir Michael Somare has decided to stay on, canceling a trip to Australia for the funeral of a former colonial administrator. His decision is being seen as a sign that some progress can be made and that an agreement could be reached by week's end.

APIA, Samoa (September 4, 2000 - Islands Business/PINA Nius Online)---Samoa's capital, Apia, bustles with activity. Tuna fishing is booming spectacularly. The only problem with tourism is that business is being turned away because of an acute shortage of hotel rooms.

New buildings are going up. Smart little boutiques are opening up in still grubby, badly littered side streets of what not so long ago was virtually a one-street town. Although last year's trade deficit was a record $ST 293.6 million (US$ 99.397 million), that troublesome gap was covered by:

Foreign reserves are healthy and steady at about the value of six months of imports. In 1999, says the Central Bank of Samoa, Samoa's real gross domestic product (GDP) hit about 5.25% above the 1998 figure, which was itself 3.5% up on the 1997 figure. Those figures are streets ahead of most Pacific Islands economies.

HONOLULU, Hawai‘i (September 5, 2000 – Honolulu Advertiser)---The highest-ranking Japanese member of the International Whaling Commission declared yesterday that slapping sanctions on his country for its whale research program would only backfire on the United States.

Masayuki Komatsu, the group’s deputy commissioner, said many American workers would suffer if the sanctions were imposed.

"Tens of thousands of Americans engaged in importing and marketing fishery products will lose jobs and income, which now bring them more than $1.2 billion annually," he said yesterday at a Honolulu conference on Pacific fish stocks.

Komatsu was responding to remarks by U.S. Commerce Secretary Norman Mineta, who said he was considering asking President Clinton to ban imports of Japanese fishery products to show opposition to Japan’s decision to add Bryde’s and sperm whales to its research program on minke whales.

Pacific Islands Report is a nonprofit news publication of the Pacific Islands Development Program at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai‘i. Offered as a free service to readers, PIR provides an edited digest of news, commentary and analysis from across the Pacific Islands region, Monday - Friday.